Vote dispute brings warning

China vows to act if there is turmoil

March 27, 2004|By Edward Cody, The Washington Post.

BEIJING — With Taiwan's presidential election still disputed in the streets, China warned Friday that it would not sit idly by if the island's postelection turmoil spun out of control and affected relations with the mainland.

The warning, from the government's Taiwan Affairs Office, marked China's strongest comment to date on contested balloting on March 20 that resulted in the re-election of President Chen Shui-bian. The statement, carried by the official New China News Agency, did not specify what China might do but suggested that the Beijing government believes it has a role to play in the island's political crisis.

"We will not sit by unconcerned should the postelection situation in Taiwan get out of control, leading to social turmoil, endangering the lives and property of our compatriots and affecting stability across the Taiwan Strait," it said.

The Taiwan Affairs Office, after a week of restrained comment, spoke out after more than 100 angry protesters, some throwing eggs and rocks, burst past police and into the lobby of Taiwan's Central Election Commission, seeking to prevent the formal designation of Chen as winner. In addition, Chen's Democratic Progressive Party and the Nationalist Party of his opponent, Lien Chan, announced rival demonstrations for Saturday in the streets of Taipei, leading to fears of violence.

Despite the unruly crowd, the Central Electoral Commission went ahead with its declaration of Chen's thin victory. Lien's Nationalist Party nevertheless stuck to its demand that the vote be recounted, citing suspicion of irregularities, and vowed to reinforce the demand in Saturday's protest.

Chen has agreed to a recount, saying he wants to lower tensions and get the island moving again. But lawmakers from both parties have argued for three days over how the new counting should be carried out and who should have the responsibility for certifying it. In the meantime, several thousand Lien supporters have remained camped out in front of the Presidential Office in Taipei, the Taiwanese capital, calling the vote invalid.

As the island's political standoff simmered on, a senior Chinese official in Beijing urged the Bush administration to cut off arms sales to Chen's government, saying the leader interprets U.S. military and other support as backing for his moves toward independence.

The demand fleshed out the contents of a telephone conversation Sunday between Secretary of State Colin Powell and the Chinese foreign minister, Li Zhaoxing, in which Li called on the U.S. to do more to rein in Taiwan's independence-minded leader.

A Foreign Ministry official said the Chinese government essentially wants Washington to avoid any more gestures that Chen can cite as U.S. endorsement.